Friday, June 5, 2015

“A compromise is an agreement between two or more persons who, for preventing or putting an end to a lawsuit, adjust their respective positions by mutual consent in the way they feel they can live with. Reciprocal concessions are the very heart and life of every compromise agreement, where each party approximates and concedes in the hope of gaining balanced by the danger of losing. It is, in essence, a contract. Law and jurisprudence recite three minimum elements for any valid contract – (a) consent; (b) object certain which is the subject matter of the contract; and (c) cause of the obligation which is established. Consent is manifested by the meeting of the offer and cause which are to constitute the agreement. The offer, however, must be certain and the acceptance seasonable and absolute; if qualified, the acceptance would merely constitute a counter-offer.

In this instance, the addendum was flatly rejected by respondent on the theses (a) that he did not give his consent thereto nor authorized anyone to enter into the agreement, and (b) that it contained provisions grossly disadvantageous to him. The outright rejection of the addendum made known to the other ended the offer. When respondent later filed his Manifestation, stating that he was, after all, willing to honor the addendum, there was nothing to still accept.

Verily, consent could be given not only by the party himself but by anyone duly authorized and acting for and in his behalf. But by respondent’s own admission, the addendum was entered into without his knowledge and consent. A contract entered into in the name of another by one who ostensibly might have but who, in reality, had no real authority or legal representation, or who, having such authority, acted beyond his powers, would be unenforceable. The addendum, let us then assume, resulted in an unenforceable contract, might it not then be susceptible to ratification by the person on whose behalf it was executed? The answer would obviously be in the affirmative; however, that ratification should be made before its revocation by the other contracting party. The adamant refusal of respondent to accept the terms of the addendum constrained petitioner, during the preliminary conference held on 23 June 1995, to instead express its willingness to release respondent from his contracts prayed for in his complaint and to thereby forego the rejected addendum. Respondent’s subsequent attempt to ratify the addendum came much too late for, by then, the addendum had already been deemed revoked by petitioner.”